This Sunday was a gorgeous sunny day. Last Sunday? Oh that was another story. One so epoch, I just had to post about it. On tap was a 10-mile long run followed up by a 1400-yard recovery swim.

My training partner Kristin, aka “The Rabbit”, rode her bike over from her apartment 10 miles away in the sheeting rain. She arrived looking more like a wet rat. After she stored her bike and stuff at my place, we ventured out on our first run of the year together. (She regularly kicked my butt in track workouts last year.) We were a tad giddy about getting it in under the circumstances. It felt like we were taking part in some college prank. Except the joke was sort of on us out there.

Since cars didn’t seem to notice my bright, yellow windbreaker on a one-way street, we opted for the riverbed trail. There were no bikes to be found. It doesn’t rain very often out here, so when it does, it’s a drenching. Like someone turned on the faucet at full blast. The winds gusted. Kristin announced, “Have you noticed how easy it is in this direction? I think it’s going to be a challenge going back.” When we turned around, it felt like gale-force winds. We had to yell to carry a conversation. We had the same thought at the same time, “Wow, I hope I don’t have weather like this during a race!” Ironically, our friends were in a marathon about 7 miles south of us at that time. Poor souls.

When we got home, we realized the wet was no match for any Dri-Fit material. I was drenched through four layers of clothes. We changed for our swim workout and met Sandy at the pool. I was looking forward to introducing them because they’re both such strong swimmers. I ended up getting quite the education that morning under more droplets of rain.

Kristin gave me some tips to keep me from feeling so klutzy doing sidekick drills. Then she showed me how I could save a lot of time on turns without actually doing flip-turns. I think this may help me graduate to flip-turns later, too. Now, when I push off from the edge of the pool, I start from a submerged position. Then Sandy pointed out, “That bathing suit is cut too low. It’s creating a lot of resistance that’s slowing you down like an anchor.” Two ah-hah moments from my two swimming buddies that proved to make all the difference later in the week!